Cancer care campaign has not improved survival rates

British cancer patients still have a worse chance of survival than those in other rich countriesBURGER/REX FEATURES

NHS attempts to improve cancer care over the past 20 years have made little difference, academics say.

Patients’ chances of survival have not been affected by a series of big changes since 2000, an analysis concludes. Survival rates have improved steadily since the 1990s but there is no sign of acceleration after changes to speed up treatment and improve the quality of care.

Targets for prompt tests and treatments were set under an NHS cancer plan in 2000 that also laid out standards of care, joined-up services and boosted spending. Updates followed in 2007.

Yet analysis of data on 3.5 million people with 24 common types of cancer found that long-term trends in one-year survival were unchanged while a gap between the rich and poor…